What exactly is the right stuff? Other than the name of a famous movie about the space race, it’s a state of mind. The term is a throwback to a time when character counted -- when men routinely risked their lives not to get rich, bloviate or self-aggrandize, but for their country, science, exploration and the joy of pure competition.

Clash, a fellow and director at The Explorers Club, is a seasoned adventurer himself. In reporting for Forbes and other publications over the last two decades, he has skied to the South Pole; driven the Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph; flown in a MiG-25 at Mach 2.6 to the edge of space; visited the North Pole twice; and climbed the Matterhorn, 23,000-foot Aconcagua and virgin peaks in Antarctica and Greenland. He has also purchased a ticket from Virgin Galactic Airways to fly into suborbital space.

A year ago this week, Felix Baumgartner – outfitted in a special pressure suit – rode a helium balloon to 128,100 feet above sea level and jumped from his Red Bull Stratos capsule gondola over Roswell, N.M.

In less than a minute in the near vacuum of the stratosphere, his body accelerated to 833.9 mph (Mach 1.24), breaking the sound barrier. After more than four minutes of freefall (and slowing by friction in the lower troposphere), he deployed his parachute and coasted safely to earth.

The Austrian, now 44, had trained extensively for his big day. In addition to past stunts -- including a 1999 BASE jump from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- he had survived two high-altitude training jumps in 2012.

I originally met the daredevil a few years back when Stratos was in its early stages. We reconnected this month, and what follows is Baumgartner’s take on life a year after his jump. For more, readers can watch a fascinating just-released documentary, Mission to the Edge of Space: The Inside Story Behind Red Bull Stratos, at rdio.com/redbullstratos.

Jim Clash: You did training jumps before the big one. What did those teach you and how did the big jump differ?

Felix Baumgartner: Those two test jumps -- from 71,581 feet and 97,145 feet -- were important rehearsals for what was ahead. Not only did they allow us to fine-tune the equipment, but they also enabled us to refine our procedures. And they gave me a taste of what it was going to be like freefalling through a near vacuum in a pressure suit. In the final jump on October 14th, the descent through extremely thin air was much longer. Not having any wind resistance to work against is a strange feeling for a skydiver! And, of course, I went into a spin -- which we expected -- but it was even harder to control than I had imagined.

JC: When Joe Kittinger jumped in 1960, he had the glove-inflation problem, but kept going. You had the faceplate problem, but kept going. How close were you to aborting and why didn't you?

FB: Well, it was part of our established protocol that if for any reason I couldn’t see, I would not jump. I would have had to descend in the capsule. But we knew that jumping and coming down using my skydiving skills was the best, safest option. When I began to feel concerned that my vision could become limited, I discussed the options with the team at mission control. We did a test of the visor defogger that indicated it should function appropriately during my freefall, so I decided to go ahead.

JC: How important was it having Kittinger as your Cap Com for the jump? Was he a bit like a father figure?

FB: It was very reassuring to have Joe in my ear. He’s the only person who really has a firsthand idea of what it’s like to undertake that kind of mission. And yes, he did become like a father figure to me. I even went to Florida to ring in 2013 with Joe, his wife and some other members of the team.